6.  The applicants were born in 1973, 1995 and 1997 respectively and live in Vălcineț.
7.  The first applicant was married to A., a police officer based at the Călăraşi police station. The second and third applicants are their daughters. According to the first applicant, following the birth of the second daughter A. would often come home drunk and assault her, sometimes in the presence of their daughters. On 2 July 2010 the first applicant petitioned for divorce, having been assaulted by A. the day before and having witnessed him verbally abuse their teenage daughters. A. subsequently became more violent, regularly assaulting the first applicant and insulting both her and their daughters.
8.  On 30 August 2010 the first applicant contacted the local police to report that she had been punched in the head by A. that day. On 18 September 2010 A. was fined by an administrative court the sum of 200 Moldovan lei (MDL, then worth approximately 12.40 euros (EUR)). On 30 September 2010 he was given a formal warning by the authority in charge of the police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to stop his violent behaviour.
9.  On 5 November 2010 A. came home drunk and assaulted the first applicant. On 6 November 2010 she reported the incident to the local prosecutor’s office.
10.  According to the applicants, on 11 November 2010 A. again assaulted the first applicant in the presence of their daughters. He did the same on 12 November 2010, this time almost suffocating the first applicant, following which she lost her voice for a day and a half. On an unknown date the deputy head of the Călăraşi police station invited the applicant to undergo an examination by a forensic physician in order to establish the extent and nature of injuries to her body. The examination took place on 23 November 2010 but no such injuries were found.
11.  On 29 November 2010 the applicants applied to the Călăraşi District Court for a protection order. A protection order was made on 9 December 2010, the judge finding that A. had been abusive towards the first applicant by beating her, insulting her, imposing his will upon her, causing her stress and psychological suffering, threatening her and mistreating their pet. Moreover, this violence had often taken place in the presence of their teenage daughters, whose psychological well-being was being adversely affected as a result. A. was ordered to stay away from the house for ninety days and an exclusion zone of 500 m was attached to the order, prohibiting A. from contacting the applicants or committing any acts of violence against them. The applicants notified the local police, prosecutor’s office and social services of the order, which on 12 December 2010 was served on A.
12.  On 9 December 2010 the first applicant requested that Judge B.N. from the Călăraşi District Court revoke the six-month waiting period he had insisted the parties observe when the first applicant petitioned for divorce. She based her application on the protection order made that day and submitted that A.’s history of violence prevented any possibility of reconciliation. The first applicant alleged that she was informed by Judge B.N.’s secretary that the judge had refused to treat her divorce as an urgent case. On 12 January 2011 the first applicant complained to the President of the Călăraşi District Court about the judge’s refusal.
13.  On 10 December 2010 Călăraşi police opened a case against A. to oversee enforcement of the protection order of 9 December 2010. Between 12 December 2010 and 17 January 2011 the local police visited A. on six occasions to warn him against alcohol abuse, bringing shame upon his family, insulting his relatives and breaching the protection order.
14.  On 14 December 2010 A. was cautioned by local police for his violent behaviour and was made to confirm in writing that he had understood the terms of the protection order. It was established that A. had moved out of the family home and was in temporary local authority housing.
15.   On 16 December 2010 A. saw the first applicant in the street and followed her, using insulting and threatening language and trying to apprehend her. He continued to harass her in a shop where she had tried to seek refuge.
16.  On 19 December 2010, A. entered the family home notwithstanding the terms of the protection order. According to the Government, however, the applicants had given their permission for him to return until 16 January 2011. The applicants maintained that they had not given such permission, A. having assaulted the first applicant, destroyed certain possessions and verbally abused the third applicant on his return. On 23 December 2010 the first applicant reported the incidents of 16 and 19 December 2010 to the police. Most of the complaints to various authorities were then forwarded to the Călăraşi Prosecutor’s Office.
17.  On 10 January 2011 the first applicant was invited to give statements at Călăraşi police station regarding her complaints against A. She submitted that she was then pressured by the police into withdrawing her criminal complaint, because if A. had a criminal record and lost his job, this would have a negative impact on their daughters’ educational and career prospects. A meeting with the local prosecutor was fixed for the following day, this time with A. being present. During that meeting the first applicant told the prosecutor that she wanted a divorce but did not want to cause any trouble for her husband.
18.  On 12 January 2011 the first applicant was informed that the prosecutor would not be initiating a criminal investigation. On 13 January 2011 A. returned to the family home. He again assaulted and verbally abused the first applicant, simulating strangling her, and threatened to kill both her and her aunt if she did not withdraw her criminal complaint. On 14 January 2011 a medical expert found four haematomas on the first applicant’s neck and one on her clavicle, which could have been sustained in the way the first applicant had described.
19.  The Government alleged that on 1 March 2011 A. telephoned the third applicant to wish her a happy birthday. They further submitted that having obtained permission from the first applicant, A. returned to the home to congratulate his daughter in person, spending twenty minutes there in the presence of all three applicants and his father-in-law.
20.   The first applicant reported the incident to the Călăraşi District Court on 2 March 2011, informing it that she had rejected a request by A. to visit the family home the day before, but that he had turned up nonetheless, in clear breach of the protection order. She asked the court to extend the duration of the order for a further ninety days. On 14 March 2011 A. was called before the court and served with an extension of the order.
21.  On 15 March 2011 the Călăraşi Social Assistance and Family Protection Department informed the first applicant that owing to a clerical error the protection order of 9 December 2010 had never been enforced by the local social services.
22.  On 14 April 2011 the Chișinău Court of Appeal upheld A.’s appeal, partly revoking the protection order of 9 December 2010. The appellate court found that the law neither expressly provided for the minimum exclusion zone of 500 m, nor did it expressly prohibit the abuser from harassing or using physical violence against the victim, although these were implied in the general obligation not to make contact. The appellate court therefore decided to remove these terms from the order.
23.  On 13 December 2010 the first applicant requested that a criminal investigation be initiated into A.’s acts of violence. On the same day the applicants requested that the second and third applicants be officially recognised as victims of domestic violence for the purposes of the investigation.
24.  On 17 January 2011 the applicants’ lawyer complained to the Prosecutor General’s Office that she had not been invited to the meeting on 11 January 2011 at the Călăraşi Prosecutor’s Office (see paragraph 17 above) at which the first applicant had been pressured into withdrawing her criminal complaint in A.’s presence. Also on 17 January 2011 a criminal investigation was finally initiated in respect of A. On 25 January 2011 the applicants again requested that the prosecutor’s office officially recognise the second and third applicants as victims of domestic violence for the purposes of the investigation.
25.   On 19 January 2011 the first applicant was invited to a meeting with social workers, who allegedly advised her to attempt reconciliation with A. since she was “neither the first nor the last woman to be beaten up by her husband”. On 20 January 2011 the applicants complained to the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family about the social workers’ attitude.
26.  On 17 February 2011 the applicants asked the Călăraşi police to fine A. for breaching the protection order on 16 December 2010, 20 and 22 January and 6 February 2011, her main reason being that A. had contacted the first applicant and pressured her into withdrawing her criminal complaint. In response she was informed that on 24 February 2011 the administrative case file against A. had been sent to the Călăraşi District Court.
27.  On 1 April 2011 a prosecutor from the Călăraşi Prosecutor’s Office established that A. had admitted earlier that day to having physically and psychologically abused three members of his family. A. then concluded a plea bargain with the prosecutor asking to be conditionally released from criminal liability. The prosecutor found that there was substantive evidence of A.’s guilt in the form of various medical reports, witness statements, documents relating to his fine and warnings issued by his employer, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, given that he had committed a “less serious offence”, did not abuse drugs or alcohol, had three minors to support, was well respected at work and in the community and “did not represent a danger to society”, the prosecutor suspended the investigation for one year subject to the condition that the investigation would be reopened should A. commit another offence during that time.
28.  On 13 April 2011 the applicants appealed against the prosecutor’s decision of 1 April 2011. On 18 April 2011 the senior prosecutor rejected that appeal on the grounds that suspending the investigation against A. would afford better protection to the applicants.